Seven Days: From High Born to Humble Beginnings

[Wandering Eyes]

Any week which included the return of Kyprios (Ire) should be considered a good week indeed. Yes, this time of the year is really all about exciting maiden winners and Classic trials, but any horse who can stick around in the Flat pack for as long as Kyprios has done must be cherished. 

Four members of the final crop of his sire Galileo (Ire) have entries in the Derby and/or Irish Derby, but otherwise we will be relying on his older runners, including last year's St Leger one-two Illinois (Ire) and Jan Brueghel (Ire), to give the late champion something of a last hurrah. Kyprios, who on Saturday won his third consecutive Vintage Crop Stakes en route to Leopardstown then Royal Ascot, will once again lead the charge.

It was hard to imagine that so soon after Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) we'd be treated to another stayer of such a high calibre. But, three years ago, the then-four-year-old Kyprios announced himself as the new staying king as Stradivarius's superiority waned slightly with his advancing years. 

Following their first meeting at Royal Ascot when Stradivarius might have seemed an unlucky loser in the Gold Cup, the two bright chestnut sons of half-brothers delivered their most thrilling tussle on a truly glorious afternoon on the Sussex Downs with just a neck separating them at the finish of the G1 Goodwood Cup. That was Stradivarius's fifth appearance in the race that he had won four times between 2017 and 2020, and Kyprios's first. The baton was passed. 

Kyprios won the Goodwood Cup again last year during a magnificent season of Group 1 victories in the Gold Cup, Irish St Leger and Prix du Cadran, at distances ranging between 1m6f and 2m4f. Here's hoping for more of the same this year, though his trainer Aidan O'Brien has suggested that, just as Stradivarius was in 2020, Kyprios may be aimed at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe this year instead of the Cadran.

Waltzing Wootton

Anyone preparing to strike up a rendition of Waltzing Matilda as the jolly Swagman (Ire) led them a merry dance in the Sandown Classic Trial on Friday may well reasonably have assumed that the colt was a son of the 2014 Derby winner Australia (GB). However, this Ballydoyle runner is more Wiltshire than Wagga Wagga as he is instead by Wootton Bassett (GB), who has a strong portfolio of potential Classic contenders for the coming season. Following Monday's confirmation stage, he is responsible for seven of the 17 colts left in Saturday's Betfred 2,000 Guineas.

A number of those are out of Galileo mares and that is also true of Swagman, but he started his life in Germany, rather than Ireland, at Gregor and Julia Baum's Gestut Brummerhof, most famous internationally for having produced the Arc and King George winner Danedream (Ger) (Lomitas {GB}). The Baums bought Swagman's unraced dam ten years ago from the Wertheimers' breeding operation for €350,000. She is from a line tracing  back to Baron Guy de Rothschild's G1 Prix Royal-Oak winner Lady Berry (Fr) (Violin d'Ingres {Fr}), with a slew of black-type performers under Swagman's granddam Featherquest (GB) (Rainbow Quest) alone. 

BBAG Graduates Shine

Swagman had been bought from Brummerhof by Alex Elliott on Coolmore's behalf at the BBAG Yearling Sale of 2023 for €180,000. The top lot that day, at €300,000, was a filly from the final crop of Adlerflug (Ger) consigned by her breeder Gestut Rottgen. Named Eleganz (Ger), she too left Germany, to be trained in Chantilly by Andre Fabre. Bought by Imad Al Sagar, whose breeding operation has recently been expanded from Newmarket to Kentucky, she won on debut at Saint-Cloud last Wednesday. 

Fabre is also the trainer of the Al Sagar homebred Burhan (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}), who made it a good week for the breeder when winning the Listed Prix du Pont Neuf at Longchamp. Al Sagar's Blue Diamond Stud was also represented this week by first-time-out winner Remmooz (GB). The son of Blue Point (Ire) was sold as a foal for 37,000gns and later fetched 250,000gns at Tattersalls October Book 2 when bought by Federico Barberini for Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum. 

Another from that same crop of Blue Diamond graduates is last year's G1 Futurity Trophy winner Hotazhell (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}), who holds entries in the 2,000 Guineas of Britain, Ireland and France. 

Eleganz, meanwhile, has an entry for the G1 Prix de Diane, which was won by Al Sagar in 2022 with Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who is now in foal for the first time to Dubawi (Ire).

Enora's Family to the Fore

It has also been a good week for the Gestut Rottgen-bred G1 Preis der Diana winner Enora (Ger), who was sold privately to Katsumi Yoshida in 2016. Not only is she the granddam of the aforementioned Eleganz, but Enora's three-year-old son Energico (Jpn) won Saturday's key trial for the G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), the G2 Aoba Sho.

Energico's sire Duramente (Jpn) died in September 2021 at only nine years of age and, just as the premature loss of Eleganz's sire Adlerflug that same year was deeply unfortunate for Germany, Duramente's untimely demise increasingly looks a blow for Japan. 

The winner of the Japanese Derby and 2,000 Guineas a decade ago, Duramente's best offspring include the Triple Tiara winner Liberty Island, who tragically suffered a fatal injury in Sunday's G1 FWD QEII Cup, as well as fellow Classic winners Stars On Earth (Jpn), Titleholder (Jpn), and Durezza (Jpn), along with the Grade 1 winners Lugal (Jpn), Dura Erde (Jpn) and Champagne Color (Jpn). Their top-level wins have been recorded across the distances, from the Sprinters Stakes to the Japanese St Leger. 

Like Galileo and Adlerflug, Duramente's final crop are three-year-olds this year, and Energico looks well placed to emulate his father with a Derby victory on June 1.

Yes For No

Whistlejacket (Ire) was a bit of a favourite of this column last year when his busy juvenile campaign included wins in the G1 Prix Morny and G2 July Stakes. The laidback colt was overshadowed towards the end of the season by some of his later-emerging stable-mates who are now hogging the Classic limelight but it was good see Whistlejacket back in the winner's enclosure at Navan on Saturday after the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Committed Stakes. Carrying a Group 1 penalty, he had to work hard to overcome the fellow Aidan O'Brien-trained Ides Of March (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) but win he did, en route to the G1 Commonwealth Cup, on what was a good day for his sire No Nay Never. 

Charles Darwin (Ire), the full-brother to Blackbeard (Ire), became the first two-year-old TDN Rising Star in Europe this year following his wide-margin win in the 6f maiden which has been won in the past by the likes of Camille Pissarro (Ire) and River Tiber (Ire).

Then No Nay Never popped up as the broodmare sire of Wemightakedlongway (Australia {GB}), the front-running winner of the G3 Salsabil Stakes for Joseph O'Brien. Bred by the trainer's mother, Annemarie, the filly's price was subsequently cut for the Oaks, though the G1 Pretty Polly Stakes later in June has been mooted as a more likely target.

Stars Out in Force at Longchamp

Another sire to have enjoyed some notably good results on Sunday was Sea The Stars (Ire), who had the first two home in the first Group 1 of the European season, the Prix Ganay, with Sosie (Ire) and Map Of Stars (GB). This came just 35 minutes after Aventure (Fr), also by the Gilltown Stud resident, had won the G3 Prix Allez France in taking fashion, making it a particularly special weekend for the Wertheimer brothers, owner-breeders of both Sosie and Aventure. 

Last year's G1 Grand Prix de Paris winner, Sosie was making a return to action after finishing fourth in the Arc to Bluestocking (GB) and Aventure, but his immediate family has already been represented by another group winner this season, with his three-year-old half-brother Uther (GB) (Camelot {GB}) having landed the G3 Prix Noailles a fortnight earlier to put himself in the picture for the G1 Prix du Jockey Club. 

One of the very useful features of the excellent France Galop website is that it has a breeders' table, and this currently shows the Wertheimers to be way out in front with 40 winners already this year.  

High Earners from Modest Origins

Liberty Island's fatal injury cast a pall over proceedings at Sha Tin on Sunday but the other two Group 1 races on the card provided a shot in the arm for smaller breeders at a time when so many of the world's best races are being dominated by the major owner-breeder operations.

Leaving aside the fact that some people believe that geldings have no place in Group 1 contests, the FWD Champions Mile, won by 90/1 outsider Red Lion (Ire) (Belardo {Ire}), flew the flag for Tattersalls Ireland's mixed December sale, which was where the six-year-old was initially sold by breeder Patrick Harney for €7,000.

Trained originally in Ireland by Andrew Slattery under the name of Fiach McHugh, he was later a vendor buy-back at £240,000 at the Goffs London Sale of 2022. Following his seventh-placed finish in that week's Britannia Handicap at Royal Ascot, he changed hands privately to join the Hong Kong stable of John Size.

You don't have to look too far back in Red Lion's pedigree to find some smart connections. His third dam Lionne (GB) (Darshaan {GB}) is a three-parts-sister to the Dewhurst and Derby winner Sir Percy (GB) and her offspring included the dual Group 3 winner and Irish Oaks fourth Grace O'Malley (Ire) (Refuse To Bend {Ire}) as well as March Stakes winner Jadalee (Ire) (Desert Prince {Ire}). From humble beginnings, Red Lion has now won almost £3.5 million following this breakthrough at Group 1 level. 

Hong Kong's current star package Ka Ying Rising (NZ) is the best sprinter in the world and has won his last 12 starts, including Sunday's G1 Chariman's Sprint Prize. He has now amassed earnings in excess of £6 million, but he too has modest origins. 

The four-year-old was himself never offered at public auction but was sold privately to race in Hong Kong after winning his trial at Levin on New Zealand's North Island for his initial trainer and breeder Fraser Auret.

His sire Shamexpress (NZ) stood for a fee of just NZ$8,000 last year, the equivalent of roughly £3,500, and Ka Ying Rising's dam, the five-time winner Missy Moo (NZ) (Per Incanto), had been sold as a yearling for the paltry sum of NZ$500, while his granddam Royal Rhythm (NZ) (Rhythm) changed hands at Karaka as a 12-year-old in 2011 for NZ$1,000. 

You don't always need the deepest pockets to breed a good one. But it helps.

 

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